Field Trip to Griffith

Park/Franklin Canyon
Park/Vasquez Rocks/Eaton
Canyon Fall

STOP 1. Griffith Park

Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a
section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles,
California that has become known as a filming
location for many movies and TV shows,
especially westerns and science fiction, from
the early days of motion pictures to the
present. Its craggy and remote-looking setting,
but easily accessible location, has made it a
prime choice for filmmakers, particularly of
low-budget films, who want to place scenes in
a lonely wilderness.

ground it comes to solid rock. When the rock

is limestone or dolomite caves can form.

Source:
http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C01/C01Links/rville.k12.mo.u
s/Cave/caveForm1.html

STOP2. Franklin Canyon Park

In Franklin Canyon Park, the easy stroll around
the reservoir offers plentiful views of birds
and wildlife.

Begin: PCC
STOP1: Griffith Park
STOP2: Franklin Canyon Park
STOP3: Vasquez Rocks

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronson_Canyon

STOP4: Eaton Canyon Fall

How does a cave formed? Cave formation

begins when rainwater absorbs carbon dioxide
as it falls through the atmosphere. Rain water
must have carbon dioxide to become acidic. It
must be acidic to chemically react to the
limestone bedrock. Rainwater is absorbed by
the soil into the ground. As rainwater comes
through the soil it absorbs more carbon
dioxide that is being produced by plants that
are dead. As it travels down through the

We will be travelling to 4 stops around the

area of Los Angeles and learning about
different and unique geographic features in
the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere
and biosphere field.

What is a native plant? Why go native?

California has a wide and unique variety of
plants that have evolved here over hundreds
of thousands, if not millions, of years. Many of
these plants occur nowhere else on the planet.
These plants are assembled into
communities and appear only in very
specific areas on our landscape. For example,
we have salt water wetland plants, coastal
sage scrub plants, desert scrub plants, etc.
These plants have co-evolved with other life
forms like microbes, insects and birds,
creating a complex network of relationships
which is our native California ecosystem.
California bird species have adapted to

Source: http://blogs.britannica.com/2011/02/how-fault-linesform/

California native plants as food sources. Our

birds eat the seeds, berries, and nectar that
our plants produce. They also eat the
pollinators these plants attract. This
association has evolved, again, over hundreds
of thousands if not millions of years.
Source: http://losangelesaudubon.org/index.php/conservationa-restoration-mainmenu-82/go-native-to-attract-birdsmainmenu-77

Hidden away in the Santa Monica Mountains,

Franklin Canyon is also home to a variety of
animals, perhaps most audibly the wood
ducks and mandarins who live in Heavenly
Pond. The area's plentiful chaparral attracts
summer-breeding birds like the California
quail, Berwicks Wren, and California thrasher,
but birdwatchers in the know frequent the
park year-round, occasionally catching winter
glimpses of Canada geese, as Franklin Canyon
is along the Pacific Flyway migration route.
Eagles, owls, and several species of hawks are
also part of the park's menagerie, as well as
rabbits, snakes, and bobcats. Redwood and
walnut trees are scattered throughout the
property, as well as wildflowers.
Source:
http://www.kcet.org/living/travel/socal_wanderer/outdoors/hi
king-and-birdwatching-in-franklin-canyon-park.html

STOP 3. Vasquez Rocks

How does fault form? Faults are cracks in rock
caused by forces that compress or stretch a
section of Earths crust. Earths crust is divided
up into several tectonic plates that essentially
float on a mantle of plastic, partially melted
rocks. These plates slide under or slide past
one another, stressing the rock along the
edges of each plate. A new fault forms when
the stress on the rock is great enough to cause
a fracture, and one wall in the fracture moves
relative to the other.

What is Tectonic uplift? Tectonic uplift is the

portion of the total geologic uplift of the mean
Earth surface that is not attributable to an
isotactic response to unloading. Isotactic
response is important, however, an increase
in the mean elevation of a region can only
occur in response to tectonic processes of
crustal thickening, changes in the density
distribution of the crust and underlying
mantle, and flexural support due to the
bending of rigid lithosphere
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_uplift

STOP 4. Eaton Canyon Fall

How are waterfalls formed? Waterfall
formation is based around the basic principle
that there is a watercourse traversing over
different layers of rock each with different
rates of erosion. Over time, the soft rock is
further cut into by the water ultimately
making the watercourse steeper beyond the
hard rock layer. This steepening effect also
accelerates erosion as the influence of gravity
on the water increases the water's speed.
Eventually, the watercourse steepens until it's
either nearly vertical or completely vertical.

Source: http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/featured-articleswaterfalls-101-how-are-waterfalls-formed.html
Source: http://www.world-of-

Where does that water come from?

Suns energy essentially turns liquid
water molecules into water vapor in a
process called evaporation. The water
vapor eventually coagulates or comes
together in the form of clouds. Then, the
clouds can move inland according to the
whims of air currents and the rotation of
the earth.
When the water vapors rise up against
mountains, plateaus, or an updraft, or
runs into a cold air mass, the clouds get
cooler and the water gases condense as
mist, rain, or snow.

waterfalls.com/featured-articles-waterfalls-101how-are-waterfalls-formed.html